French Prosecutors Link 15-Year-Old To Mega-Breach At State's Secure Document Agency (theregister.com) 29
French prosecutors say police detained a 15-year-old suspected of using the alias "breach3d" in connection with a cyberattack on France Titres (ANTS), the state agency that handles passports, ID cards, and other secure documents. The breach allegedly involved 12 million to 18 million lines of data offered for sale online, potentially affecting up to a third of France's population if the records are unique. The Register reports: It formally opened (PDF) a judicial investigation on April 29, covering alleged fraudulent access to a state-run automated data processing system and the extraction of data from it. Each offense carries a potential prison sentence of seven years and a maximum ~$350,000 fine. Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau has requested that the minor, whose pronouns, like their name, were also not specified, be formally charged and placed under judicial supervision.
[...] France's approach to punishing minors via its legal system is typically geared toward re-education and rehabilitation rather than prison time. While those aged between 13 and 16 can face time in juvenile detention, it is often used as a last resort measure. The maximum sentences and fines for the charges the 15-year-old in this case faces are upper limits imposed on adult offenders, and would likely be lowered substantially in cases involving a minor, like this one.
[...] France's approach to punishing minors via its legal system is typically geared toward re-education and rehabilitation rather than prison time. While those aged between 13 and 16 can face time in juvenile detention, it is often used as a last resort measure. The maximum sentences and fines for the charges the 15-year-old in this case faces are upper limits imposed on adult offenders, and would likely be lowered substantially in cases involving a minor, like this one.
Rehab (Score:2)
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No real penalty (Score:3)
So criminal gangs can recruit a 15 year old off the Internet, equip them with the tools for the job and promise them a cut. The 15 yo takes the fall, is slapped on the wrist and the adults that convinced the teen are never even caught. What a great system. How much damage did this kid cause again? Oh well, glad this is France and not USA.
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I think the odds of him being used by a legit cyber crime organization vs the french victim organization just plain being criminally negligent are pretty even.
Potentially just wildly incompetent...but if I was defense of some 15 year old, I'd lay it out pretty hard that the security was probably so bad my mother could have tripped and fell into the data.
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The door can be broken and no lock at all but if there is a sign that says "Official access only" You've done broken the law.
I think the kid can be rehabilitated but I'd definitely put pressure on him to give up his adult conspirators.
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So criminal gangs can recruit a 15 year old off the Internet, equip them with the tools for the job and promise them a cut. The 15 yo takes the fall, is slapped on the wrist and the adults that convinced the teen are never even caught. What a great system. How much damage did this kid cause again? Oh well, glad this is France and not USA.
Kinda sounds like Trump and his cabinet members -- three fired so far. /s
With Tulsi Gabbard at 56% to be next, followed by Howard Lutnick (16%) and Pete Hegseth (7%). As of 2026-04-30.
Who will leave Trump's Cabinet next? [kalshi.com]
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The 15 yo takes the fall, is slapped on the wrist and the adults that convinced the teen are never even caught.
It doesn't matter what country the teen is in if the adults are in another. Even the USA cannot punish an adult from another country for convincing a teen in the USA to do a crime, unless the adult can be extradited. So what's the point in punishing the teen as if you were punishing the adult actually responsible? Answer: there is no point other than cruelty.
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Some punishment is justified so the child knows he has done wrong and that committing crimes has consequences. I'd put a lot of pressure on him to turn over his adult conspirators. Maybe they are even in the UK. You don't know until you at least try and find out.
The kid can definitely be rehabilitated but zero punishment is teaching him that crime is okay. That's not the message we want to send.
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Rehabilitation is a punishment. If the kid flips on the adults and they are in the same country, great. They can also go after and show the child the consequences for these adults. If the adult isn't in the country, then it's the end of the line and there is no point in hanging the whole thing on just the kid. Maybe if they're lucky, the adults are from a friendly country and the two country's police forces can work together to catch the adult.
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Realistically, how is a criminal gang going to find that 15-year old who is capable of doing this? How many 15-year old kids brag about something they aren't actually capable of doing? The signal-to-noise is really going to be problematic.
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I'm glad I don't live in the USA, which scores [numbeo.com] 94th on the world crime index and 58th in the safety index... Seems to me the USA isn't such a safe country.
A child cannot be expected to act responsibly or to have an idea of the consequences of its actions. The law and society should bend over backwards in order to protect any child, no matter what it has done.
Then again, the USA hasn't ratified the rights of the child treaty. It's the only country which hasn't done so yet. Disgusting.
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The child can be rehabilitated but he still needs to be punished, otherwise you send the message that crime is okay. Nothing wrong with trying to find out who the adults were and until you ask, you don't know. He may not know but then again, he could probably help authorities find them. Seems like a smart kid after all, just doesn't understand that breaking the law tends to have consequences. Better he learn that now then when he's an adult and the state really comes down on him.
I'll tell you who should be facing time (Score:2)
The people in charge of IT.
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The people in charge of IT.
Yes. Of course it's all IT's fault. Roll out the guillotines.
After all, there's simply no historical evidence that PHBs perpetually starve IT departments of necessary resources because they're almost always a company expense that falls on the 'wrong' side of the books.
(Yes. It's sarcasm. If this particular IT is truly incompetent, fine. But at least try and think deeper than your average PHB with the blanket assumptions, mmkay?)
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Whoever allowed the SSLVPN system that had no MFA should be fired.
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Whoever allowed the SSLVPN system that had no MFA should be fired.
Sure. As long as we don’t merely assume that “IT” made the decision to deny the funding for the additional MFA security deemed unnecessary by those who preferred to get their usual quarterly bonus instead. Unless additional security translates into do-this-or-else legal mandates, it is often left on the budget cutting room floor.
Good IT people strive to be bored as hell in their infrastructure, because the ever-increasing amount of ignorance in the PEBKAC part of the network is more than
Or the people who refused budget requests? (Score:2)
If the organisation employed low quality people with no up to date experience, then those people are not really to blame. Likewise if the request for more funds was refused by the 'board', then shooting the messenger is unfair. Overall, there needs to be accountability - but of those really responsible!
Composing sentences (Score:2)
Each offense carries a potential prison sentence of seven years and a maximum ~$350,000 fine.
But in french judicial system, when convicted for two offenses, one gets the worst sentence of the two, and not the sum of the two sentences.
So child-level security was implemented... (Score:2)
Precisions (Score:3)
Each offense carries a potential prison sentence of seven years and a maximum ~$350,000 fine.
Correct, but the translation by The Register leaves open the possibility two sentences would add up, which is not implied by the original in French (and does not happen in French law). Being part of the same crime and judged simultaneously, only one sentence of the same nature will be applied. Reference: L132-2, L132-3 CP https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr... [legifrance.gouv.fr] Regarding the penalty of 7 years for each of the two offences: L323-1 subpar. 2 CP and L323-3 subpar. 2 CP https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr... [legifrance.gouv.fr]
and would likely be lowered substantially in cases involving a minor, like this one.
Specifically, the maximum penalty for a minor is HALF what an adult would face (or 20 years in case an adult would face a life sentence). Reference: L121-5 CJPM https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr... [legifrance.gouv.fr]
How do you say (Score:1)
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Based nick noted and approved.
Stupid (Score:1)
a 15-year-old (Score:2)
Kids Do the Darnedest Things (Score:1)
I can't wait for Bill Cosby to present this new TV show. It'll be a sleeper hit.